Nujiang is an ancient and mysterious land. It’s a land that no one can fail to admire. Nature, the great creator, was a particularly kind of this ancient land. It’s a home of multi minority groups in China.

A variety of China’s landscape, a diversity of its people. Welcome to Travelogue. Welcome to our minority special. We’re here at the Nujiang province and we’re going to walk a long this river. We’re going travel village to village, to a township. Visit and show you the beauty of China and to explore the greatest Canyon in China.

The canyon – otherwise known as the ‘Nu River Gorge’ – is a real natural wonder. The popular wisdom is that this is the second grandest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon itself in Colorado in the United States. But I have my doubts. Many of the cliffs here rise to well over 3,000 meters – and that’s higher than anything the Grand Canyon can boast. As for the river, she earns her name, Nu: meaning, “rage”, for her roaring rapids and thundering waves. From her source among the snow-capped peaks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, she winds for 1,500 kilometers across Southwest China before making her way into Myanmar. As for the many tall mountains that stand in her way – well, the Nu simply cuts through them, hence the canyon.

Another wonder of the canyon is its ethnic minorities. It’s hard to imagine anywhere else in the world with such a huge diversity of dialects, costumes, customs, and faiths. The only thing the people seem to have in common here is, a shared belief in living in peace.

The town of Liuku lies at the southern end of the Nu River Gorge, from where my expedition will take me way up north.

We’re here at the one of largest stations. It’s a transportation centre. We can take the bus, taxi – all kinds of transportation you can find in Liuku, this city. And this can take you all the way to the city we’re going to. The Bingzhongluo, which takes about 6 hours. If you have the money, you can take a taxi, which will costs you around 600rmb or you can take a bus, which is a lot cheaper. Or you can go down the other ways, to go to Baoshan, which is close to the airport. It’s cheaper and it’s a shorter distance, it’s only 2,5 hours.

So I’m in the middle, to decide, which way I’m going to take. So I’m going to ask up all the prices and compare it, to find out.

As the capital of the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Liuku enjoys good transport links, so you can get to pretty well all of the prefecture’s many townships and villages from it. I’ve already discovered the names of the four counties that make up the prefecture: they’re Lushui, Fugong, Lanping and Gongshan. Clearly, though, I’ve got a lot more to learn about what seems to me a truly charming area.

There’s one thing I got to tell you. Count in, that you’re going to be prepared for a long traveling plan. This is because, each location to one another, takes about 5 to 6 hours. Just don’t fall a sleep, stay a wake, watch around. While you’re driving, there are so many beautiful scenes around the road. It is going to be a long road, because it’s all the way up in the mountain. You are circling one mountain after another. Take a day or two and then you want to enjoy. So you need a traveling plan, got it?

My first stop is Dayangchang, a vast meadow, about 4,000 meters above sea level, up in the mountains, where three counties, Lanping, Lijiang and Weixi meet. Dayangchang is famous for its natural beauty and for the remarkable people who live here. They are the Pumi – fewer than 30,000 of them living along the canyon and in Lijiang, to the east. At one time the Pumi were herders, roaming the high grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. But over centuries they’ve been settling down as farmers and craftsmen.

Pumi, I’ve been told, means ‘white’. I guess the name was chosen because of its association with purity. I, for one, can’t remember hearing songs and seeing dances that conveyed such a sense of pure enjoyment. But then, singing and dancing have been an important part of Pumi life for as long as anyone can remember.

The Kouxian is an icon of Pumi tradition; which makes it more a narrator of history than a vehicle of love. In times gone by, the Pumi were a nomadic folk, roaming the grasslands up north on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. When powerful invaders came from the North, the Pumi declined to fight and instead they moved further south. Apparently, much of their wandering was done to the accompaniment of the Kouxian.

Nujiang is one of the well knows rivers in China. Also known as the “Nu” river and lately it’s being developed as a tourist attraction. And driving along, there is a big canyon. Along the canyon you can see all the sceneries, but one thing is the season. The summer times are good, but in many seasons it’s not good to drive here, because there are rocks and stones. I can even feel it and touch it. They are very near by these narrow streets, but you are able to enjoy river and the canyon. It’s so deep. I would say around 2000m deep. So it’s a quiet tremendous view, every angle you turn, especially when you turn around. One scene in the front is looking very good, but I want to look back. Even better… all these sceneries!

I’m now on my way to a village called Baihualing, which means ‘Floral Ridge’. A small place hidden in the canyon, it was barely known to the outside world. That was until a century or so ago. When the village had some visitors, who left it a legacy that is making it known today.

China’s remote northern Yunnan Province is home to many people groups, including the Naxi, Mosuo, Pumi, and Lisu, of whom more then half are Christians. Produced by The Institute of Chinese Studies.

The Lisu & Pumi ethnic groups in Yunnan / China.

The host for travelogue is hot but to my question; are the Lisu by any chance related to the Hmong/Miao﻿ ethnic? And if not, why do some Hmong/Miao have similarities as the Lisu and vice versa… I’m﻿ confused.

Asia Harvest is a Christian organization serving in Asia. Check us out at http://www.asiaharvest.org The largely-Christian Lisu people live in remote mountain ranges of northern Myanmar (Burma) and southwest China.